Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Kanom - Fashion Bakery

We drive past Kanom zillions of time and we had never thought about eating there.  Actually; we did not even know that there was a restaurant.  For years, we knew Kanom was famous for their 'patongkoh' (chinese doughnuts), egg tarts and other bakery goods...so we just assumed that Kanom was a tea or dessert room.  However; a friend told us that actually they have some of the best food in town...ummmmm; how embarrassing that we did not know this.  We decided to go for lunch!


From the street you can't tell how big Kanom really is; but when you enter the house, its a very large space, airy and full of light that shines in from all the glass windows.  There is a lovely view from the dinning area to the garden.  When we entered, we immediately saw all the wonderful egg tarts and savoury pies in the show cases...beckoning us to order them.


The design of Kanom is a 'T' shaped space; one area with a long sofa bench with tables with somewhat Philippe Starck coloured plastic chairs.  The other areas consists of the same tables & chairs as well.  The very black floor is a nice contrast to the white walls and natural sunlight.  The tables are nicely spaced so that customers don't feel claustrophobic.


The first order was Patongkoh 'Chinese doughnut' (50 baht).  This is a strange thing to order for lunch since most people eat this for breakfast with soymilk; but, this is the house specialty and every table in the restaurant had an order of them...so; I needed to have these amazing looking things.

The patongkoh we normally get on the streets are small or bite sized.  These are humongous monsters (I am in no way complaning).  You order the creamy, rich and very flavourful dip to accompany the patongkoh...we ordered the green pandan cream.  Oh my oh my were these patongkoh heavenly.  They were deep-fried to golden brown, very crispy on the outside but so tender on the inside.

This has got to be the worst thing for our cholesterol level and waist line....but, who cares??? Oh wait; maybe my doctor!


My friend ordered the Spicy Beef stir fry (150 baht).  The dish just looked so yummy when it arrived and it did not disappoint.  A good portion of spaghetti noodles was used with loads of basil, chili, tender beef, and pepper corns.  So much flavour in one dish...lovely.


I ordered the Friday-Saturday-Sunday Special...southern spicy fish soup dish (150 baht).  The order consisted of a bowl of very spicy bamboo soup accompanied with crispy fish skin, salty egg and pulled pork.  When adding all the ingredients together over rice...so so so good! Oh; my scalp did tingle & itch from the spicy soup...be warned!


The menu of Kanom is very eclectic; many types of food available like...Vietnamese ravioli (120 baht).    The raviolis came out hot and steaming; the rice flour was not to thick (which is a good thing); so we could easily see the stuffing of minced pork & chives.  The raviolis were topped with Vietnamese pate and deep fried onions.  After adding the sauce; these soft & tender raviolis were very tasty.


Time for coffee and dessert...of course, we had to order the Egg tart egg yolk/egg white (40 baht).  It truly is not hard to love these little round things.  The tart shell was flaky, crusty & crispy and the filling of either the egg yolk or the egg white version was soft, tender & creamy.  The combination of textures with the sweetness of the filling make these little beast one of my favourite desserts or snacks.


When you enter or exit Kanom; you witness the making of the unresistable patongkoh (the make-shift cooking station is next to the parking lot...I think they did this on purpose so that we cannot resist these monsters even thought they are so damn bad for us)...Kanom very smart...me like!

Overall; Kanom with its very easy-going and comfortable atmosphere, very simple but delicious food at amazingly affordable prices, the very attentive & friendly staff and of course the lovely desserts, patongkoh and egg tarts...this is really nice place to be for lunch...if you can get a table.  Its always packed with people and families on weekends.

Oh by the way; they also have terrific looking savoury pies as well.  I ordered a beef pie to take to the office for lunch...AND, it was very yummy.  Luckily we have an oven at work...so out from the oven,  the crust of the pie was light & flaky (not too think).  The bubbling beef filling was rich, thick and loaded with goodies.

Address: 122 Sukhumvit soi 49
Telephone #:  02-391-2428 / 02-712-6618
Opening hours: daily from 9:30 - 20:00 and Sundays 9:30 - 18:00

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